Greg Louganis won four gold medals and one silver while on his way to becoming the only male diver in Olympic history to sweep the diving events in consecutive games. You are not Greg Louganis. This can be troubling, considering it's summer, and that means pool parties, which can be broken down into four parts: 1) Grilling and eating 2) Drinking 3) Someone getting pantsed and 4) Diving competitions.

Luckily for you, Steve Foley, USA Diving's High Performance Director, wants to help with part four. Foley isn't Louganis either, but he's damn good. Foley is a three-time Olympic diver for his native Australia. He served as the country's head Olympic diving coach, and before coming stateside, was Great Britain's High Performance Director for a decade. Now he's responsible for lending the American Olympic diving team his expertise. Under his watch, the team grabbed four medals in 2012, their best outing since 1988. I asked Foley to help us nail the most common pool-party dives, and he was happy to oblige.

It's easy to go wrong when performing the classic jackknife dive, which involves folding yourself at the waist in midair, then straightening out right before you hit the water. "The biggest mistake a lot of people make when doing the jackknife is that they tend to dive down toward their feet, and that creates too much rotation," Foley says. Too much rotation means you end up landing on your back, which will not only be painful, it'll make people want to pants you again for trying too hard and failing. Instead of bringing your hands to your feet, bring your feet to your hands. Also, Foley says when you're in the air, be sure that your feet are pointing down toward the water directly below you, not under and behind you.

The bellyflop is a crowd pleaser. When I asked Foley for tips on this one, he laughed and simply noted that it's important to "keep your eyes open so you can see where you're going," referring to it as "the most painful dive." The fact that Foley didn't have many tips should give you an idea about how to land this one: Jump off the board, spread yourself out, and after you resurface, stop drinking.

Pulling off the pencil is a great way to show people at the pool party that you're a cool customer, because the pencil takes discipline. Foley suggests keeping two things in mind: Your stance on the diving board and your hands. "You really want to be balanced at the end of the board, and be sure to keep your hands flat against your sides," he explains.

If you can perfect the swan dive, which should result in very little splash, you'll become legendary for at least the next seven minutes.The swan dive — mandatory for every Olympic diver until 1980 — is perhaps the most famous dive, but also one of the most difficult. "Sometimes the simplest dives are the hardest," says Foley. His advice? "Get your arms up and above your head, then slightly forward, and then out to the side. If you don't get your arms up and forward, you could get too much rotation."

The backward somersault is that classic combination of something that looks impressive but is actually easy to pull off. "Believe it or not, learning a backward somersault is easier than a forward one," Foley says. "You just look back and see the water and let your shoulders lean back while maintaining contact with the board with your feet." The leaning back is key because it gets your body going in the right direction. Then, adds Foley, "You can either continue to fall, or give yourself a gentle push."

Everyone loves the cannonball. There's just something hilarious about a person yelling exactly what they're doing while throwing themselves into a body of water curled into a position that gives them a solid chance at drowning. That danger can scare people into fudging the dive, says Foley. "You have to be brave," he explains. "Keep your hands on your knees all the way through your landing, because when you let your knees drop, that's when you take a bit of a whack." Also of note: Foley tells me that in Australia, they do a sort of half-cannonball called a "bomb," which involves grabbing just one knee. Bust that out a pool party and people will think you're worldly and well-travelled. Maybe.